Washington, March 23 - One of America's top priorities in building a partnership with India is to expand state- and local-level engagement, according to a senior US official as Indian companies are adding tremendous value to local US economies.

The booming India-US trade relationship already is delivering substantial benefits to the American people, said Robert Blake, assistant secretary of state for South Asia in an address at the University of California, Berkeley Institute of International Studies, Thursday.

Washington, Feb 27 - Describing India as one of America's "most trusted and valuable partners" in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior US official has said it would serve as the foundation for greater regional economic cooperation and expansion.

"Our relationship from our burgeoning trade, to defence sales and exercises, to our growing education and clean energy partnerships has never been stronger," Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State, told a House panel Tuesday during a hearing on "The Rebalance to Asia: Why South Asia Matters."

Washington, Feb 16 - Two senior US officials are headed to India to participate in the second US-India-Afghanistan Trilateral Dialogue focusing on cooperation among the three nations after the planned drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan in 2014.

Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake and Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Dan Feldman will lead the US delegation at the New Delhi meeting, the State Department announced Friday.

The New Delhi meeting follows the inaugural trilateral consultations held at the Afghan mission in New York City Sep 25.

Washington, June 18 : A trilateral forum, which brings the United States and India in a new arrangement with Afghanistan, is not directed against Pakistan, a senior U. S. official has said.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake claims that the main goal of the forum, announced in Washington this week, was to bring stability and economic development to war-torn Afghanistan, reports The Dawn.

Washington, June 5 : The U. S. believes India has the required institutional capacity to become a global power and sees a growing strategic convergence between the two nations, a top administration official has said ahead of next week''s India-U. S. strategic dialogue.

Robert Blake, Obama Administration''s point man for South and Central Asia, said the rapid strides made by the two sides in their ties over the last 10 years indicates that "sky is the limit" for the relationship between the two countries to grow, reports The News.

Washington, Jan 25 - As India officially took up the issue of popular TV show host Jay Leno's objectionable depiction of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, a US based Sikh rights group lodged a complaint with Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Indian Deputy Chief of Mission Arun Kumar Singh met US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake Tuesday and conveyed India's objection to Leno passing off a visual of the Golden Temple as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's vacation home.

The Indian mission has also written a "strong letter" to NBC, which broadcast Leno's "The Tonight Show" featuring the joke Thursday.

Washington, Sep 29 : With the centre of geopolitics moving toward Asia, India plays a critical role in US strategy, says a US official suggesting anti-piracy efforts could spur three-way cooperation with India and China.

While hailing democratic India as a positive force in Asia, it insisted that Washington should also work with China, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said here Wednesday.

In a speech on US regional strategy, he said Washington's "strategic relations with India will shape the world we live in, as the world settles into the still young, and at times turbulent, 21st century".

Washington, Sept 26 : US Deputy Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake has said that Islamabad should improve ties with America to help the people of Pakistan who were facing political, economic and security problems.

Blake said that it was important for all of us to move forward and work together.

"We need to help the people and the government of Pakistan in resolving their political, economic and security problems and in fact it is the time to focus on these issues," The Dawn quoted him, as saying.

Washington, July 9: India and the United States are likely to announce fresh initiatives to boost cooperation in the education sector during the second US-India Strategic Dialogue to be held in New Delhi in the third week of July.

Announcing this here, Robert O. Blake, Jr., Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, said: "Education cooperation, I think, is going to be one of the most important pillars of our future cooperation in the next 10 or 20 years.

American educational institutions of all kinds are very interested in expanding their collaboration with their Indian counterparts."

Washington, July 9: The United States will look to enhance the scope of counter-terrorism cooperation with India during the second US-India Strategic Dialogue to be held in New Delhi in the third week of July.

Robert O. Blake, Jr., Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, told Indian journalists during a web chat from Washington that he didn't really see any limits on counter-terrorism cooperation with India.

Washington, July 9 : The United States is not concerned about losing out to the French and the Russians in the field of civilian nuclear cooperation with India, a senior State Department official has said.

Washington, July 9: Although the United States' relationship with Pakistan is "very complicated", it holds extreme importance for both America and India in view of security efforts in the region, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, has said.

Washington, Mar 19: The United States has said that it opposes China's plans to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan, but also emphasized that the Obama administration has been very clear on the need to support Pakistan's energy development.

"We expect China to abide by the commitments that it made when it joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2004, and in particular we think the construction of new nuclear reactors such as the Chasma 3 and 4 would be inconsistent with those commitments. That remains our longstanding position," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O. Blake, said.

Washington, Mar 19: The United States has said that the relationship with India is one of the defining partnerships in the 21st Century, adding that New Delhi is going to be a constructive force and a responsible stakeholder in the world.

Washington, March 19 - The United States has said that it remains very much committed to its civil nuclear deal with India despite the Japanese nuclear disaster though nuclear industry worldwide would need to assess its impact.

"No. We remain very much committed to pursuing civil nuclear cooperation with India," US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said at a media roundtable in Beijing Friday when asked if there was a reconsideration of the India deal in view of the Japanese disaster.